So there will be no Sunday break.
The prospect of a ban on hunting on Sundays now seems to be a thing of the past.
In October, the Secretary of State for Ecology, Bérangère Couillard, nevertheless assured that it was “not a taboo subject”.
But to reduce the risk of accident, the government prefers to set up an application for smartphones, intended for walkers, on which hunters will report, revealed Le Figaro Thursday.
The application will make it possible to visualize in real time the hunts in progress, and thus to adapt its route.
Read alsoRhône: a mother and her two children aged 8 and 10 injured in a hunting accident
“I don't want to suggest that banning hunting on Sundays would settle the issue for the other six days of the week,” argues a government source to the daily.
“I can't imagine for a second that we can have a proposal going in the direction of a Sunday without hunting, also declared Thursday the president of the National Federation of Hunters, Willy Schraen.
This would set all rurality ablaze”.
Even if the final arbitrations have not yet been made, the application should be one of the measures of the “zero accident” hunting plan, which Bérangère Couillard will detail on Monday morning during a trip to Loiret.
She had already unveiled the outlines in mid-October.
According to Franceinfo, “it is possible” that this application will be “deployed in less than six months after the presentation” of the measures.
This solution was supported by several hunting lobbyists, including Thierry Coste, political adviser to the National Federation of Hunters.
According to Le Figaro, the government does not necessarily plan to create a dedicated application.
He would like to add new functions to the Meerkat application, intended for lovers of outdoor activities.
Available on Android and iOS since 2014, Meerkat lets you report sources of pollution, incorrect signage or defective equipment.
For now, there is no indication that hunters will be required to report.
A disappointment for environmental protection associations
A disappointment for environmental protection associations, which consider the measures envisaged to be largely insufficient, reports France Bleu.
"If the hunting safety plan was ultimately limited to a few measures such as the ban on hunting while intoxicated or the idea of a mobile application for volunteer hunters to report, the government will greatly disappoint the 4 out of 5 French people who would like Sunday without hunting
,
” reacted Matthieu Orphelin, general manager of the League for the Protection of Birds.
Read alsoDeath of Morgan, killed by hunters in 2020: a trial for example
90 hunting accidents were recorded by the French Office for Biodiversity during the 2021-2022 season, including eight fatalities.
Two of the victims were not hunters.
An Ifop poll published Monday by Actu.fr reveals that 80% of French people want hunting to be banned on Sundays.
Only 30% of them say they feel safe on a nature walk.
This is 16 points less than in July 2009.
